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Visitor Comments: 9

(9)
scott,
July 30, 2014 5:01 PM

My take on miracles.

I like some of the things he said. I do believe that miracles can a do happen every day. I don’t agree that the quality or scale or methodology G*d uses for making miracles has changed one whit. I don’t think G*d has changed. I think we have.

One side of my argument is that I think we expect less. I think we ask for less. I think no one expects G*d to part the Reed Sea today. No one believes he will. And if he did, we’d look to any other justification rather than accept that kind of direct interference in our control over our world by G*d. Who would actually accept the idea that we could walk around Gaza City seven times and Hamas would be eliminated? Maybe that’s why that’s why G*d doesn’t do those sorts of things today. Saves us all a great deal of embarrassment.

The other side is that he does part the Reed Sea on a regular basis. We’re just too caught up in all the things going on all over the place to notice something happening in a stream in Egypt. Instead of walking around Jericho seven times…he had Arab radio broadcasters tell outrageous lies about Deir Yassin to start a general exodus of Arabs from our land. Without another shot fired 700,000 of our enemies fled before us. That’s a parting of the Reed Sea if I’ve ever heard of one. Perhaps he only parted the Reed Sea all those years ago because no one had invented radio broadcasts to frighten our enemies.

Perhaps its just that we don’t write out stories the same way any more. The Bible is full of stories of a people and their G*d striving together. Now our histories are simply the stories of a people. Perhaps we make no room for talk of miracles. When the Arab armies came against us to be crushed in six days was that not him hardening their hearts against us making the mistake to attack so that we could win and again occupy Judea and Samaria and pray at the wall? How would that story have been told in Exodus? A new Israel created in six days...cmon.

(8)
philip,
July 29, 2014 3:09 AM

Psalms 127:1

Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

(7)
Anonymous,
July 29, 2014 2:22 AM

Well said

Our nation defies logic in every way possible

(6)
Anonymous,
July 29, 2014 12:28 AM

I loved the "Luck...(God)....Luck"

(5)
Wendy Beth,
July 28, 2014 5:11 PM

It's simple.

The only Iron Dome protecting Israel is God. I thank Him every day for it.

(4)
DAS1951,
July 27, 2014 7:20 PM

I like it!

I am pleased to see this commentary. Some time ago I came round to the view that the Almighty *must* be intervening since, although Iron Dome is good, and yes, I know there is an extensive network of shelters.

However, Iron Dome is not *that* good, and one ought not to be able to always get to the shelters in time.

And yet even with hundreds of Hamas missiles the casualty rate among Israelis was low (one person before the ground-based retaliation in Gaza?)

I also have a scientific background (though nowhere near as advanced or as distinguished as Dr Schroeder's) I also think the Almighty made Israel build so many shelters and make Iron Dome pretty good and make many of the Hamas missiles explode before they crossed the border and make those that did reach IL not kill anybody...

(3)
Anonymous,
July 27, 2014 6:40 PM

miracles

Israel survives on God's miracles. This is so in quiet times and wartime. Anyone keeping their eyes open and is realistic sees this continuously. May Hashem continue to grant us his kindness and protection.

(2)
Dvorah,
July 27, 2014 3:58 PM

I remember hearing the US General Schwatzkopf say

that the Scuds aren't even dangerous.The direct hit on the American soldiers in Saudi Arabia came the very next day.The miracles here then and now were and are clearly apparant to everyone willing to open his eyes.

About the Author

Dr. Gerald Schroeder earned his BSc, MSc and double-Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics and Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught physics for seven years. While a consultant at the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission he participated in the formulation of nuclear non-proliferation treaties with the former Soviet Union and witnessed the testing of six atomic bombs. He has served as a consultant to various governments worldwide and has been published in Time, Newsweek and Scientific American. He is the author of Genesis and the Big Bang, the discovery of harmony between modern science and the Bible, now in seven languages. He is also the author of The Science of God and The Hidden Face of God. Dr. Schroeder is currently a lecturer at Aish Jerusalem for the Discovery Seminar, Essentials program, Jerusalem Fellowships, and Executive Learning Center ― focusing on the topics of evolution, cosmology, and age of the universe.

I've been striving to get more into spirituality. But it seems that every time I make some progress, I find myself slipping right back to where I started. I'm getting discouraged and feel like a failure. Can you help?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

Spiritual slumps are a natural part of spiritual growth. There is a cycle that people go through when at times they feel closer to God and at times more distant. In the words of the Kabbalists, it is "two steps forward and one step back." So although you feel you are slipping, know that this is a natural process. The main thing is to look at your overall progress (over months or years) and be able to see how far you've come!

This is actually God's ingenious way of motivating us further. The sages compare this to teaching a baby how to walk. When the parent is holding on, the baby shrieks with delight and is under the illusion that he knows how to walk. Yet suddenly, when the parent lets go, the child panics, wobbles and may even fall.

At such times when we feel spiritually "down," that is often because God is letting go, giving us the great gift of independence. In some ways, these are the times when we can actually grow the most. For if we can move ourselves just a little bit forward, we truly acquire a level of sanctity that is ours forever.

Here is a practical tool to help pull you out of the doldrums. The Sefer HaChinuch speaks about a great principle in spiritual growth: "The external awakens the internal." This means that although we may not experience immediate feelings of closeness to God, eventually, by continuing to conduct ourselves in such a manner, this physical behavior will have an impact on our spiritual selves and will help us succeed. (A similar idea is discussed by psychologists who say: "Smile and you will feel happy.")

That is the power of Torah commandments. Even if we may not feel like giving charity or praying at this particular moment, by having a "mitzvah" obligation to do so, we are in a framework to become inspired. At that point we can infuse that act of charity or prayer with all the meaning and lift it can provide. But if we'd wait until being inspired, we might be waiting a very long time.

May the Almighty bless you with the clarity to see your progress, and may you do so with joy.

In 1940, a boatload 1,600 Jewish immigrants fleeing Hitler's ovens was denied entry into the port of Haifa; the British deported them to the island of Mauritius. At the time, the British had acceded to Arab demands and restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The urgent plight of European Jewry generated an "illegal" immigration movement, but the British were vigilant in denying entry. Some ships, such as the Struma, sunk and their hundreds of passengers killed.

If you seize too much, you are left with nothing. If you take less, you may retain it (Rosh Hashanah 4b).

Sometimes our appetites are insatiable; more accurately, we act as though they were insatiable. The Midrash states that a person may never be satisfied. "If he has one hundred, he wants two hundred. If he gets two hundred, he wants four hundred" (Koheles Rabbah 1:34). How often have we seen people whose insatiable desire for material wealth resulted in their losing everything, much like the gambler whose constant urge to win results in total loss.

People's bodies are finite, and their actual needs are limited. The endless pursuit for more wealth than they can use is nothing more than an elusive belief that they can live forever (Psalms 49:10).

The one part of us which is indeed infinite is our neshamah (soul), which, being of Divine origin, can crave and achieve infinity and eternity, and such craving is characteristic of spiritual growth.

How strange that we tend to give the body much more than it can possibly handle, and the neshamah so much less than it needs!